Emotion Work, Ethnography, and Survival Strategies on the Streets of Yogyakarta

• Published in: Medical anthropology Vol. 34; no. 1; pp. 84 - 97
• Main Author: Stodulka, Thomas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Routledge 01.01.2015; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Anthropological research; Anthropology; Anthropology, Cultural - ethics; Anthropology, Cultural - methods; Child; Children & youth; emotion; Emotions; Empiricism; Epistemology; Ethics; Ethnography; Female; Field work; fieldwork; Homeless people; Homeless Persons; Humans; Indonesia; Java; Male; Marginality; Research methodology; Researcher-Subject Relations - ethics; street children; Survival strategy; Young Adult; Indonesia; Yogyakarta Indonesia; fieldwork; emotion; epistemology; street children; marginality; Indonesia
• ISSN: 0145-9740; 1545-5882; 1545-5882
• DOI: 10.1080/01459740.2014.916706

Anthropological research with street-related children, adolescents, and young adults raises epistemological, methodical, and ethical predicaments. In this article, I illustrate the advantages of an anthropology that acknowledges the ethnographer's emotions as valuable data when conducting research with marginalized communities. By drawing on my own experiences when conducting long-term fieldwork, I argue that systematic self-reflexivity and an emotionally aware epistemology enhance both the anthropologist's emotional literacy and his or her understanding of informants and interlocutors. The integration of the ethnographer's emotions in the analysis and interpretation of ethnographic data can assist in formulating anthropological theory, challenging the limits of traditional empiricism, and raising emotions to a category of epistemic value.